LiDAR wins in the dark.

Camera navigation works fine in bright rooms with lots of contrast. But LiDAR doesn’t care about lighting—it maps your house with lasers, so it works the same at midnight and noon. If you have dark rugs, glass doors, or a lot of furniture, LiDAR is more reliable day-to-day. Cameras struggle with reflective surfaces and low light. LiDAR doesn’t.

That said, camera systems have gotten better. Some high-end Roborock and iRobot models use both. But if I had to pick one for reliability alone, I’d take LiDAR every time.

You’re not buying a robot vacuum for its nighttime photography skills. You’re buying it to not run into your couch leg.